Another day, another opportunity for players to speak their minds on the new deal the CFLPA verbally agreed to when some within the membership were prepared to strike.

In terms of wins, the CFL will make off like bandits, players once again capitulating like they have so often for all these many years.

It doesn’t matter how much money a private broadcaster like TSN doles out to appease its Canadian content, how much public money gets earmarked to help build new stadiums, the CFL remains a mom-and-pop operation with short-sighted vision, no concept on how messed up its product really is when one looks at the big picture.

Players had a chance to go for the jugular amid all this alleged rebirth, but they fell woefully short.

Here in the heart of three-down football, the local football citizenry has been subject to some of the worst football imaginable, a Grey Cup title drought that is the longest in the league, one of the few claims Big Blue can boast.

The prospects don’t look any better this year, either, with an unproven head coach, an unproven quarterback, but fans who have proven to be loyal, almost to a fault.

Fans in Hamilton are loyal, though last season’s decision to play home games at Guelph did test their love of the Black and Gold.

Fans in Toronto do exist, but when it comes right down to it are a niche audience that’s getting older.

In the football business world of the haves and have nots, the Bombers and Argos are a contrast in extremes, Winnipeg a have franchise, the Argos a have not.

When the next round of collective bargaining begins anew, the CFL must have a different model in place that takes into account this dichotomy.

Enterprising, young owners in markets such as Montreal, Hamilton and Toronto must also be secured, which is not to take away from all the sacrifices Bob Young has made in The Hammer.

The quicker David Braley bolts Toronto, the better the Argos will be.

And one of these days, CFL players will take matters into their own hands and not just demand a bigger piece of the pie, but stay firm and committed to actually enjoying it.

It’s not happening any time soon.

Fans should be rejoicing and they, at the end of the day, are all that really matters.

In matters of money, the CFL will benefit the most from this deal.

They should have agreed to the CFLPA’s proposal to have an independent medical official at every game to oversee concussion protocol, but clearly the league does not care about player safety.

If it does, then the league should have done more and not always be driven by money.

Unfortunately for fans, the only way they can experience a game without attending it live is through TSN, which produces a weekly drivel-fest that borders on the unwatchable.

It’s laughable how these talking heads, whose faces are best suited to radio, espouse this notion that the deal in principle is fair for both sides.

If you’re a player, you should be embarrassed, disappointed that more wasn’t extracted when more was expected and warranted.

CFL players have given too much over the years and they deserved more and yet all they got was more discontent, more confusion, more reasons to mistrust the union’s executive, more of the same, more or less.

“It’s definitely been hard on me, it’s getting harder to sleep at night,” Eric Fraser, Ottawa’s player rep, told reporters on Monday. “You know, to look guys in the eyes when we’re telling them this and that and then saying that’s the offer we have to bring them to vote on — it’s not easy.

“I think everyone agrees the deal is not good enough, but if this deal doesn’t go through, we have to be prepared to lose a season.”

Ricky Foley took to social media to express his thoughts.

“I am voting YES to accept the deal & NOT strike ... cause we’ve been backed in2 a corner & I have no confidence in our execs or legal counsel.”

But the show goes on, the CFL’s pre-season officially kicking off Monday night at Investors Group Field as Big Blue played host to the Double Blue.

Now that the league basically got what it wanted, it’s up to the CFL to showcase its games better and remove this minor-league mentality that has basically characterized its operations for decades.

Whether it’s the presentation of games on television, officiating, demanding owners to arrange for better practice facilities, there’s a lot that can be done and should be done.

Players blinked first when their only leverage was to strike, but they didn’t have the backbone to take such a drastic move.

The CFL won this battle and anyone who thinks differently is a complete idiot.

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Players got shortchanged in new CFL labour deal

Another day, another opportunity for players to speak their minds on the new deal the CFLPA verbally agreed to when some within the membership were prepared to strike.

In terms of wins, the CFL will make off like bandits, players once again capitulating like they have so often for all these many years.

It doesn’t matter how much money a private broadcaster like TSN doles out to appease its Canadian content, how much public money gets earmarked to help build new stadiums, the CFL remains a mom-and-pop operation with short-sighted vision, no concept on how messed up its product really is when one looks at the big picture.

Players had a chance to go for the jugular amid all this alleged rebirth, but they fell woefully short.

Here in the heart of three-down football, the local football citizenry has been subject to some of the worst football imaginable, a Grey Cup title drought that is the longest in the league, one of the few claims Big Blue can boast.